Block · kaisho 楷書 · VB5C
Block or kaisho (楷書) styles are the most common and recognizable styles. Block styles are easily read and are noted for their angular form and their vertical and horizontal lines.
南無妙法蓮華経
namu myōhō renge kyō
Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō
Devotion to the Lotus Sutra.
by Master Eri Takase
Born and raised in Osaka, Japan, Eri Takase received the rank of Shihan, master, from two calligraphy societies, the Bokuteki-kai and Bunka-shodō, and won best-of-category awards in all-Japan national competitions. She has created calligraphy for people around the world for more than thirty years, and with your order she will be creating calligraphy for you.
In a ritual as old as calligraphy itself, Master Takase prepares the ink, meditatively rubbing the ink stick against the stone until it reaches the perfect consistency for the paper. Then, properly loading the brush with ink, she brushes your scroll. And only when the scroll is just right and meets her approval, she signs it and affixes her seal, completing your original scroll.
12 1/4" × 43" (31 × 109 cm) Japanese Scrolls
The scrolls have woven damask borders and special layered Japanese paper (washi), designed to last generations by a scroll maker in Gifu, Japan, with whom we have worked for over two decades.
Gift-Ready
Your scroll arrives boxed, with a printed insert describing the words in detail.
Sending it as a gift? Add your message at checkout and we will include it with the insert.
Ships in 1-3 days from Washington State
Your scroll is brushed when you order it and completed within 1 to 3 business days.
Your scroll ships from Master Takase's studio in Washington State. Shipping is calculated at checkout. We ship worldwide.
30-day money-back guarantee
Every order is covered by our 30-day money-back guarantee. If your scroll arrives damaged, or we made an error, we replace it or refund you in full, including shipping.
Explanation
南無妙法蓮華経 is the daimoku, the chant at the center of practice in the Nichiren schools. Its seven characters give homage to the Lotus Sutra. 南無, namu, is devotion, a taking of refuge, and the rest is the sutra's title, the Lotus of the Wonderful Law. The schools write it two ways: Nam-myoho-renge-kyo for Soka Gakkai and Namu Myoho Renge Kyo for Nichiren Shu. Both are one chant.
A calligrapher's daimoku is a devotional hanging. The Gohonzon, the inscribed mandala of the schools, is a different object and comes from within the tradition. On a wall the daimoku is a practitioner's text. As a tattoo it declares faith in a living religion.
In 1260 Nichiren wrote that a believer's ordinary practice should be to chant these seven characters, seven years after he first declared his teaching at Kiyosumi in 1253. The formula itself is older: it is one of six lines of homage in a Chinese Lotus rite of the sixth century, and in Japan it closes a court poet's prayer for his dead parents in 881.
Learn More About These Words
We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 南無妙法蓮華経.
